ITA English was a failed experiment in the UK during the 1960s. It tried to introduce a new phonetic alphabet to make English easier to read. However it left thousands of kids struggling with English all their life.
To me parts of it actually make sense, particularly using "w" to replace "oo" and I could see how foreign learners might find it easier. It feels a little like bad Welsh mixed with a Geordie accent to me.
But I think you loose the entomological history thats so often useful in word choice.
So based on the pics what's your thoughts? Did anyone here actually learn this at school?
Faeld is right but even God can't help English though He has shown favor to the English. Empire n all etc.
It doesn't help there is a substantial amount of non English in English.
But more than anything it didn't help that Caxton hired typesetters from Europe who didn't know English but none the less set about standardizing English spelling with vigor.
In the process they dropped quite useful letters. The Y in Ye is actually the letter thorn which was hand written as a capital P with an extra stick on top but was eliminated to reduced typesetting costs. No other language has the TH sound of thorn.
If you are anywhere near approaching English literacy you won't verbalize the Y in Ye Old Pub. Instead, you will recognize the Y as thorn and say The Old Pub instead. Many other examples with the other five lost letters.
Is that fucked in the head? Kinda maybe.
But it became even more fucked in the head. Faced with Caxton standardizing English spelling, the English, pig headily, immediately decided to change how to pronounce words in the Great Vowel Shift in the 15th to 18th. So mice was originally mees in sound. for example.
English is too fucked up to be unfucked now. Fortunately it is unnecessary. Little kiddies only need to learn 35,000 words and they'll be fine. One of moderate intelligence should have that knocked over in grade 1.
Who hand writes now anyway? The only problem is with words like compliment and complement escaping auto correct as it did for me this morning. But even big name authors are being printed with that style of error now since editors no longer edit.
I was part of that failed experiment. And yes it screwed me up for my whole lief… sorry life. In first grade the fuzzy little friend at home was a KAT. Then they told us in second grade it was a CAT. In first grade I had a friend who name was Kaet. Kaet said that’s not how to spell her name but the teacher insisted that for now, that’s how we will spell it. Kate was happen when we reached second grade and could spell her name correctly.
If in my later years I had heard that the inventor’s of that system were publicly executed… I’d been ok with that!
ITA English, intended to simplify reading through a phonetic approach, certainly had innovative aspects. However, it disrupted students' understanding of traditional English spelling, leading to confusion. While some phonetic features might seem logical, it overlooked the linguistic richness and historical context embedded in English spelling. The experiment's failure highlights the importance of balancing innovation with respect for linguistic history. Emphasizing phonetics can aid learning but should complement rather than replace traditional spelling methods. It's crucial to consider long-term effects on comprehension and literacy. I've guided students through understanding these complexities for better language acquisition.
I read the same Guardian article yesterday. I can't imagine how they thought it was possibly going to help, unless the new writing system was going to completely replace the existing one, which was never the plan. And I noticed the weird pronunciations too - how can the "ue" in "blue" (little boy blue) possibly sound the same as the "ou" in "your" (blow your horn)? That seems almost Scottish to me.
There's a certain amount of sense in trying to make the language more phonetically consistent - that's essentially what US English is - but even then, you lose important information about the derivation of a word, which would help you to ascertain its meaning. For example, a "paedophile" is not someone with a leg or foot fetish, despite what Americans might be led to believe. Schools should go back to teaching classics.
Interesting. I didn't know such an experiment had taken place in the UK. No doubt about the good intention, but what most of such inventors forget, is that a word as normally spelled is not really read letter after letter, but recognized as a whole, similar as the chinese read their caracters. English, and other languages written in the latin alphabet, are only read letter after letter in the frame of learning to read the language, or when for some reason spelling seems a necessity. That why a misspelled word seems so odd to people knowing their language.
I can read ITA with no real problem, but my question is WHY?
One of the things that makes the English language interesting is all the exceptions to the rules.
One of the reasons it failed is that every computer keyboard in the world, billions of them, would have to be changed to support the new characters... that's not gonna happen.
I was part of that group that had to deal with the "new math" in jr. high. i remember that my mother actually went to a couple of classes that was offered so she could help my brother and me with our homework. I never really understood what they were trying to teach us and eventually it was abandoned. However, I struggled with math all through high school and college.
English is actually more suited to the runic Norse alphabet than the one we use where runes represent sounds, but at this point trying to replace the alphabet with runes would be a nightmare.
And as far as Welsh goes, "Llong" meaning boat because of Latin "navis longa" when the Romans arrived just made things even more confusing than they already were 🤣🤣🤣
Every largescale attempt at overhauling language tends to end in failure, probably because the ones trying to teach it are still using the old system they're trying to phase out.
But no, wasn't aware of that. And yes, I can read it easily enough. In fact it looks easier to read than most zoomer slang.
I'm of the view that things like this should be taught alongside other methods to encourage critical thinking development as trying to understand things from a different perspective is a skill that many lack these days.
Girl's Behavior 
Guy's Behavior 
Flirting 
Dating 
Relationships 
Fashion & Beauty 
Health & Fitness 
Marriage & Weddings 
Shopping & Gifts 
Technology & Internet 
Break Up & Divorce 
Education & Career 
Entertainment & Arts 
Family & Friends 
Food & Beverage 
Hobbies & Leisure 
Other 
Religion & Spirituality 
Society & Politics 
Sports 
Travel 
Trending & News 
